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MATTHEW CAMP ON ASSOCIATIONS WITH 8.5 AND MORE

If you don’t know already, a quick google search of Matthew Camp will tell you that he’s got half a million followers on Instagram, he’s go-go danced and club promoted for the likes of Susanne Bartsch, and he starred in an indie film GETTING GO, based on his life. A dive into his his social media and you understand what it means to be an object of desire— many describe Matthew as ‘country boy’ with a side of danger. If you’ve ever seen one of his films (or his OnlyFans) you know how disarmingly charming Matthew can be. It’s no wonder the pleasure connoisseur would eventually find his way to designing clothing, leather, and fragrances with an aesthetic to match.

Tom of Finland Store now carries scents “CAMP” and “8.5” which gave me the opportunity to ask Matthew some of the knitty, gritty details of his… fragrances. Check it out!

As long as I can remember I always looked at objects and considered how they were made, or sketched out things the way I wished they looked— and that really meant the way I wish people dressed. I have tons of sketches and books where I spent hours laying out my fantasy for this group of fierce women that I wish I knew.

Wood is your first Fragrance— what was it like entering the world of ‘parfum’? What challenges did you face in development and production?

Developing a fragrance is similar to cooking, but even more from scratch. I didn’t start with a ‘fragrance cookbook’ or have that kind of assistance. It took lots of trial and error, reconfiguring combinations thinking about what smells turned me on. The oils in my fragrances go in odd directions, like rubber and dirt. The combinations and varieties are limitless. Production wasn’t the hard part. Once I had a winning combination of oils I just had to scale up production, which is easy (just not inexpensive).

8.5 seems to be erotic in every regard, the name (woof), the poppers shaped bottle, hints of leather... can you share a few experiences that helped you inspire this fragrance? We want details!

Haha details for sure. Honestly the name came from the Fellini film 8 ½, which is a masterpiece in filmmaking, but adding the decimal (8.5 vs 8 ½) did feel like something I would be typing into an DM… so there’s that lol. At the time I was developing this, my main source of income was dancing around NYC. To be a successful dancer or club personality you have to find a way to keep people around you (tipping you), and our most powerful sensory organ is the olfactory system. I wanted to manipulate people to hover around me longer by enticing them with a smell that was unique to me. As for details? Lol as a dancer people are running their hands all over you, up your thighs, over your cock, occasionally feeling up your ass, even your pits. I thought if I could somehow make a smell that complimented my natural musk, but was powerful enough to remain on your fingers, then I had a winning combination. I got off watching people rub their hands over me, and then realizing that the smell traveled with them— they were enjoying it.

How can a fragrance change the way you feel about someone/yourself?

Fragrance goes straight to your brain. It’s so incredibly important to create an aura extending your personality beyond your physical presence. It’s like a handshake, but much more intimate because when it’s done right you can’t shake the memory of what someone smelled like. It makes me feel connected to people when they smell me or vice versa.

What attracts you to a person’s scent?

Does it fit them— their personality and body and energy. I like a person's scent when it is an extension of what they are serving (I assume we are talking about perfume scents). When it comes to bodily scents… I’m down for it all haha. Don’t try and mask your natural aroma with something that fights or conceals it. Our bodies are fucking fantastic at creating scent profiles that really turn me on.

Have you ever encountered the scent of someone you couldn’t forget?

The first scents that really impressed me were from a friend out in LA; Agatha Blois creates amazing scents, but the scents I can’t forget aren't the ones that we apply to ourselves. I’m so impacted by bodily smells or ‘man’ smells haha. I’m impacted by the smell of my partner’s pits, or bodies after a long day. Fuck there have been some men that drove me completely crazy just walking by, when I caught a whiff of their natural smell.﻿﻿

What does wearing Matthew Camp ‘parfum’ mean to your fans? And to you?

Well it was made as a sex fragrance in that I began wearing it on my pits and balls and hole (it was tested to ensure that it would mix well with those areas). I still take a dab of it now and rub it around there, and I encourage people who buy it to do the same. I want people to feel confident enough to let someone explore their body, specifically those places. Maybe even fantasize that they are with me— that turns me on, too.

There’s an undeniable connection between your aesthetic and Tom of Finland’s, how does it feel to be sold at ToF Store?

It’s a fucking dream, are you kidding?? I looked up to ToF images as a kid (and even now) and let my imagination go wild about what would happen if those images were animated or happening in real life. The cocks and the thighs bulging with all of the denim and leather— I mean, what else is there to idolize when you're a kid? Barney the fucking dinosaur? Haha I feel like I have been indoctrinated and accepted into the this world like I was just let into a bar with all these guys in the images, and I fit right in. Feels amazing.

How would you categorize each scent (CAMP and 8.5)?

8.5 reminds me of that feeling in a club when you meet eye to eye with someone and you know its about to go down. 8.5 produces this blood rushing sensation that gets my heart rate up, because I think about all the really sexy encounters I’ve had while wearing it. It’s like the scent profile of those iconic ToF sketches (what you expect from a room of sexy sweaty bulging men).

Camp can be that same guy as 8.5, but while he is away at his weekend farm. It’s a rural, sexy fantasy, so instead of a dark corner of a bar, think dark corner of a barn. Haha it was definitely inspired by my time working on a farm in upstate New York. So many things would catch in the wind. I would think, how in the fuck can I bottle that? It’s a mixture of hay and grass, and natural flowers blooming in the forest nearby, mixed with the fragrant trees.

Who is your new fragrance line for?

In my mind? Everyone. I see the sexy in almost everyone and know that we want to explore our sexuality and celebrate our bodies. When you smell good you feel good and want to share that with others.

I know you’ve dedicated yourself to providing intimate experiences, and fantasy— tell me how fragrance has become an extension of that.

With my OnlyFans or Instagram, you really only get a two-dimensional experience of me, but as I said earlier, the olfactory system is so much more powerful than even your sight. I hope people anoint themselves with a dab of 8.5 before enjoying some of my adult content. It’s a true extension of the fantasy because it is exactly what I wear everyday of my life. It’s what my home and bed smell like, because I sleep naked and that 8.5 gets everywhere.

Any recommendations on how best to wear your fragrances?

Hell yea! Its produced in a poppers bottle to remind you of sex. I like to take my thumb or index finger and plug the opening and shake the bottle to get a small amount on on the pads of my finger and then vigorously rub it on yourself. I start with one dab in each of my pits making sure to work it into my hair. Then I take a few fingers and reach into my shorts and grab my balls (I like it on the back of my balls). If you’re feeling extra, take one last bit and gently rub on your ass cheek; a nice surprise when someone decides to visit.

What can we expect next?

Well I’m forever being quoted as trying to start a gay sex cult, which doesn’t sound like a problem to me. If I could promote love and bodily acceptance and sex, I say fuck yeah. Otherwise I am going to continue to expand my presence in the adult film world. After 10+ years of being into dancing, I finally decided to join OnlyFans and begin experimenting with pornorgaphy and have had a blast so far (pun intended). I want to continue with this and see how I can elevate the art of celebrating our bodies through sex and video.

I have a live radio show with my best friend called Happie Campers where my fans can call in and ask me questions, or just tell me sexy stuff every week. I want to continue learning, expanding myself and the world around me. The universe never stops expanding so why should we?

Jamison Karon is the author of How to Be a Faggot, and creator of the series and short film Sorry You're Sad.He is a screenwriting fellow at the American Film Institute